The Verdict
Some horror films reinvent their genre, while others simply understand its essence to perfection. Evil Dead Rise unquestionably belongs to the latter category.
Some horror films reinvent their genre, while others simply understand its essence to perfection. Evil Dead Rise unquestionably belongs to the latter category. More than forty years after Sam Raimi's original franchise debut, Evil Dead continues to surprise with its ability to evolve while maintaining its core identity. Following the original trilogy—which culminated in the cult classic Army of Darkness—the Deadite universe expanded through three wildly entertaining seasons of Ash vs Evil Dead, before Fede Álvarez's 2013 reboot completely redefined the saga's coordinates. Less irony, virtually no slapstick comedy from Evil Dead II, far more physical horror, blood, and despair. From that point on, each installment became its own story, connected to the others only through the mythology of the Necronomicon and Kandarian demons, but above all by a shared theme: family.
After a violent argument with his wife Alice, Will gets behind the wheel despite having been drinking. An unexpected encounter with a woman in the middle of the road causes a fatal accident that kills him in his car's burning wreckage. At the funeral, Alice finds herself surrounded by her husband's relatives—a family that never accepted the young French immigrant who married into the Redford name. Once the ceremony ends, everyone gathers at the old family home, a crumbling estate that Joseph, Will's brother, was supposed to restore. In the meantime, however, the young man discovers his grandfather's notes, obsessed with studies of the mysterious Book of the Dead, an ancient ritual capable of summoning demonic entities, and a dagger that would be the only weapon able to stop them. Soon enough, what seemed like mere legends begin to take shape as family members exhibit increasingly violent and unnatural behavior.
While the 2013 reboot explored the redemptive bond between Mia and her brother David, and Evil Dead Rise transformed family into possession's primary target, Evil Dead Burn takes yet another direction. Director and screenwriter Sébastien Vanicek uses horror to reflect on acquired family—how the absence of blood ties can transform into distrust, exclusion, and even violence. Alice becomes a surprisingly multifaceted protagonist: a woman who, after marriage, discovers she shared her life with a profoundly toxic man and a family ready to justify his every abuse in the name of suffocating patriarchy, fueled by a conservative America incapable of accepting those from other cultures. The long night infested with Deadites thus assumes tremendous symbolic weight: surviving the demons also means finally breaking free from years of abuse and manipulation.
While maintaining this thematic reading, Vanicek proves he knows the saga's DNA inside and out. After Lee Cronin's urban experiments in the previous highly successful installment, the French director brings the action back to the setting that made Evil Dead immortal: an isolated house. A space containing a trapped family, increasingly savage possessions, and a desperate struggle fought with whatever household objects can become weapons. From this perspective, Evil Dead Burn likely stands closest to Álvarez's film, while allowing itself some unexpected ironic moments that recall—without ever imitating—the madness of the classic films. The extraordinary grandmother figure is emblematic in this regard, capable of occasionally lightening an otherwise nearly unbearable tension.
Long-time fans will find numerous rewards scattered throughout the narrative. Professor Raymond Knowby is explicitly cited as Joseph's grandfather's colleague, effectively cementing full continuity with the original saga, while a fleeting photographic detail on the house's stairs reveals the face of Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell), and an inevitable chainsaw makes an appearance. Early in the film there's also a direct connection to Evil Dead Rise, almost a passing of the torch between the two chapters, while the mythology expands through the mysterious Wise Men sect, ancient scholars who allegedly investigated and awakened the Kandarian pantheon.
In terms of direction, Vanicek confirms all the talent already demonstrated with Vermin. The filmmaking is a continuous exercise in inventiveness, featuring dizzying camera movements, suggestive framing, and a spatial awareness that transforms every room in the house into a potentially deadly location. The action possesses impressive fluidity, and every fight is elevated by directorial work that constantly escalates tension. Supporting all this is an excellent lead: Souheila Yacoub delivers an intensely powerful performance, both emotionally and physically, transforming Alice into one of the saga's best final girls. Erroll Shand is equally impressive as patriarch Edgar, while Luciane Buchanan brings great intensity to Thya, forced to endure some of the film's most disturbing moments.
And then there's the spectacle of horror. Arguably no chapter in the saga has ever reached such levels of savagery. Extraordinary prosthetic effects, torrents of blood, mutilations, possessions, and bodily deformations construct an authentic splatter amusement park that seriously tests even the most seasoned viewers. The only real misstep comes in the finale: the so-called "final boss," now a constant in the new direction of the saga, proves less convincing than expected. Visually it appears distant from the classic Deadite imagery, and its design, while ambitious, lacks the iconic power it deserved.
Minor rough patch aside, Evil Dead Burn is a ferocious, intelligent, and viscerally spectacular horror film that manages to explore family trauma without ever forgetting what Evil Dead fans demand: fear, directorial invention, and an industrial quantity of blood. For anyone who loved the 2013 reboot and Evil Dead Rise, it's simply unmissable.
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